"Amping: As with the older models, the Annie is very sneaky in terms of amping requirements. It needs minimal amping to play loudly, but the AKGs are notorious for craving as much power as 600ohm headphones. The Q701 was the most amp reliant headphone I had ever heard, and changed the most out of any Dynamic headphone I ever heard and reviewed here. You will get away with moderate amping, but believe me, you will be doing a disservice to all the Ks and Qs by skimping out on amping. If you're gonna spend this much money on these headphones, you shouldn't feed it weak power, IMHO. They will reward you. The Annie is definitely the easiest of the models to power in terms of sounding good, but they still want power. Still, if you absolutely can't do with much amping, the Annie sounds quite full and refined off lesser equipment compared to the other models."

are the magni or e09k adequate enough for the annies or would i need more?

Chubtoad, both of those will be fine. They scale with better amps, but not by much. When I say they are sneaky in terms of power, it's that they sound good even unamped, but you're not getting their potential. A desktop amp like the Magni and E9K will go a long way.

cheuh, that's a hard question. The DT990 is brighter overall, with a stronger treble, but like I mentioned, it lives in it's brightness, so your ears adjust to the sound. The HE-400 is a warm/dark headphone overall, but the treble is a bit out of place as it's quite bright, which is the polar opposite of the general tone of the HE-400, so it ends up being a little more jarring, IMHO. If we're talking pure quantity, the 990 has more treble.

Overall though, the HE-400 is a safer bet, as you do get a more pleasant tone overall.

"Amping: As with the older models, the Annie is very sneaky in terms of amping requirements. It needs minimal amping to play loudly, but the AKGs are notorious for craving as much power as 600ohm headphones. The Q701 was the most amp reliant headphone I had ever heard, and changed the most out of any Dynamic headphone I ever heard and reviewed here. You will get away with moderate amping, but believe me, you will be doing a disservice to all the Ks and Qs by skimping out on amping. If you're gonna spend this much money on these headphones, you shouldn't feed it weak power, IMHO. They will reward you. The Annie is definitely the easiest of the models to power in terms of sounding good, but they still want power. Still, if you absolutely can't do with much amping, the Annie sounds quite full and refined off lesser equipment compared to the other models."

are the magni or e09k adequate enough for the annies or would i need more?

The Annie sounded fine off my E09k. You can always upgrade down the road.

Now that I have the Marantz with DH, I'm trying to reconfigure things and see about doing away with the Mixamp. I've extended the Annies cable length so I can comfortably reach the receiver from my couch. But I'm having some problems getting my LVA 7330 mic working directly with the wireless xbox controller.

I had grabbed this 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter from monoprice, but when I hook the mic into the controller and try to record voice, nothing comes across. If I'm not trying to get voice sound out of the controller to a headphone, but rather only trying to get voice into the controller from the mic, shouldn't this work?

I've read thread after thread about guys with big heads who want a really nice set of gaming cans and nothing really comes out as the winner. I'm pretty sold on the pc 360's or 598's but i really want some comfort for my big head. Has anyone successfully stretched these out or do they just revert back to the original clamping force?

Any big heads out there, who have found a nice combo of great gaming cans + comfort?

Hmm, the PC360 is all plastic, and stretching the headband won't really do anything. What I did is just over extend the arms so they fit a little more loosely than what you consider a snug fit. It relieves some of the pressure.

I can't remember. It's always been clampy. Like I said, you can't do much with the clamp on those. Just wear them loosely. The Senns have a hell of a lot of extension, which should fit any gargantuan head and then some.

Seems to just be subtleties and QOL improvements for that absurd difference.

Harman routinely puts refurbished (full warranty) Q701s at $199 or less buy-it-now on eBay, and I think those are be a steal relatively to the heinous cost of a K702 Annie for what is essentially the same headphone.

But then again, I'm a man to advocate a used pair of HD 580s over HD 600s any day of the week for similar reasons.

To each their own. I like the looks more, and the headband is a night and day difference in comfort. The headband swap is NOT easy and will probably void warranty if you try it on the Q701. Ideally, to save money, you'll want a Q701, Annie pads, and K601 headband. Yes, you save money, assuming you can swap the headband with ease. For everyone else, there's the Annie. Price is less than $100 for the special model over the Q701 with the extras if you shop around. Assuming you're getting new. I'll take the best edition for that small difference in the grand scheme of things.Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 4/9/13 at 1:55pm

To each their own. I like the looks more, and the headband is a night and day difference in comfort. The headband swap is NOT easy and will probably void warranty if you try it on the Q701. Ideally, to save money, you'll want a Q701, Annie pads, and K601 headband. Yes, you save money, assuming you can swap the headband with ease. For everyone else, there's the Annie. Price is less than $100 for the special model over the Q701 with the extras if you shop around. Assuming you're getting new. I'll take the best edition for that small difference in the grand scheme of things.

I guess it's a bit of an unfair comparison since the K702-65th are pretty much only available new right now (at near-MSRP), whereas there are amazing deals to be had on Q701 in the used and refurbished market.

At least there's solace in the fact that despite being "Limited", you'll still be able to create a ghetto Annie with spare parts when they're gone. Beyerdynamic and AKG are doing limited edition in an admirable way.